The Facts on Antarctica’s Blood Falls
The world is full of interesting places, some marvelous and some downright creepy… like a freaking five-foot waterfall of blood!
“Tis but a scratch.”
So what the hell is going on here?
That wall of nightmares was discovered back in 1911 by geologist Griffith Taylor, giving it its name, The Taylor Glacier. Who knows what was the first thing he thought of when he saw all that blood-like water spewing out. But, they eventually assumed it can’t be the planet bleeding and it must be red algae causing the color.
Yet there was another question that stumped the explorers… the temperature of the glacier was cold enough to freeze saltwater but there was still a waterfall of red water pouring out without a problem.
It was at this point Griffith Taylor presumably said “hmm good question… anyway”, especially since it would take almost a hundred years for the question to be answered.
“Wait, I can tell you all about- oh, they left.”
Enter microbiologist Jill Mikucki and her team who figured out the answers to most of the questions about “blood falls”. Her papers from 2004 and 2009 revealed it wasn’t red algae creating the color but actually an almost two million-year-old network of subglacial rivers and a lake high in salt and rich in iron. As the trapped iron water starts to flow through the glacier it meets oxygen for the first time and turns the blood red color.
That’s one mystery solved but why isn’t it frozen?
Since the lake is extremely high in salt it takes a lot more to freeze but what little does begin to freeze releases heat, which then melts enough of the ice allowing the water to flow out. If that isn’t enough for you to say “hmm cool” there’s one more thing, that lake that is essentially a million-year-old time capsule contains microbes AKA living organisms.
This shows that if your perception is that life on this planet NEEDS oxygen, then you’re wrong since these microbes thrived in this oxygen-free environment. As we continue to study the environment of these microbes it may lead to us being able to understand if life on other planets could exist under the same circumstances.
This says it all.
Quick Facts
The ice-covered moon of Jupiter called Europa may be one of the places in the solar system that might contain a subglacial network of lakes of rivers like Blood Falls. Understanding the environment in Blood Falls may lead to us understanding the environment there- if it exists.
Red Tide or Harmful Algal Bloom is the term for when microscopic algae bloom underwater releasing toxins that turn the water red. These toxins are fatal to surrounding fish and can be for humans as well.
